Banks Lay Off 2,477 Workers Despite Declaring Huge Profit

Nigeria’s banking sector recorded 2.16 billion transaction in the second quarter of this year through electronic payment channels.

The sector also experienced the laying off of 2,477 workers during the period.

The value of the transaction during the second quarter of the year was worth N263.78trn.

The National Bureau of Statistics revealed these in its ‘Sectoral Breakdown of Credit, ePayment Channels and Staff Strength,’ report published on Wednesday.

It stated, “A total volume of 2,160,436,659 transactions valued at N263.78trn were recorded in Q2 2020 as data on Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigeria Banking Sector revealed.

“As at Q2 2020, the total number of banks’ staff decreased by 2.55 per cent from 96,975 in Q1 2020 to 94,498.”

The bureau revealed that online payments dominated the volume of transactions recorded during the period.

It put the volume of online transfer during the period at 1.32 billion valued at N72.25trn.

In terms of credit to private sector, the total value of credit allocated by the banks stood at N18.82trn as at the end of the second quarter.

The report showed Oil and Gas and Manufacturing sectors received the highest credit allocation of N3.62trn and N3.07trn, respectively.